India hastens hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir

The government appears determined to utilise the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty to the full.

The Baglihar dam, also on the Chenab, in J&K. image: ICIMOD via The Third Pole

By Athar Parvaiz, The Third Pole

Wednesday 26 July 2017

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At a time when hydropower dams are running into challenges across South Asia, and being dismantled in the US and Europe, the government of India is planning speedy construction of eight hydroelectricity projects in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. They will have a total installed capacity of 6,352 MW at a projected cost of INR 567 billion (USD 9 billion).

These projects are Sawalkote (1,856 MW), Kirthai I (390 MW), Kirthai II (930 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Kwar (540 MW), Kiru (624 MW), Bursar (800 MW) in the Chenab basin and the multi-purpose Ujh project (212 MW) in the Ravi basin. Their combined installed capacity is projected to be around double the current installed hydropower generation capacity (3,220 MW) in the state, from projects built over several decades.

Most of the new projects are in detailed project report (DPR) stage. That is the stage after the initial studies but before any major construction.

“Presently, Jammu and Kashmir is the only state where development of hydropower is a priority. Elsewhere in India, the focus is on solar power,” an official in Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) told thethirdpole.net, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“There is no doubt that the speed with which these projects are being studied now is unprecedented. For example, the central power ministry was literally after our lives while seeking the submission of NoCs [No Objection Certificates] for Sawalkote and Kirthai projects,” the official said.

He added that technical and economic clearance (TEC) for these projects was done within weeks in 2016 following a dithering of over 50 years from when the projects were first identified in the 1960s.

He said that the government of India has already issued grants to cover the entire financing of the projects to Jammu and Kashmir for completing three projects with a total capacity of 2,164 MW (Pakal Dul, Kwar and Kiru) by 2022-23 and has assured the state it will fund the rest of the projects within the next decade provided the state commits to joint ventures with Central Public Sector Companies like the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) or others.

“It is hard for us to generate resources. For example, we can’t produce 30 per cent of the INR 220 billion (USD 3.42 billion) investment needed for the Sawalkote power project though we could get the rest 70 per cent as loan from the market.

So, the central government has assured us of funding on the condition that we go into joint ventures with central PSUs. After all, the investment would enable them to have control over these resources,” the official said.

Shah Faesal, the managing director of JKSPDC refused to comment on whether the urgency being shown for power development was because of political reasons.

“I can’t comment on that. But yes, we are keen about the speedy development of power projects in our state. Being an important organisation for the state, JKSPDC is trying to contribute for the development of the resources of the state,” Faesal said.

How will Pakistan react?

Shakil Romshoo, the head of the Earth Sciences department at Kashmir University, believes that Pakistan is certainly going to object once these projects are finalised and the plans put in public domain.

“Given the political history shared by the two countries and the recent developments over water sharing between India and Pakistan, of course, Pakistan will raise objections,” Romshoo said.

Romshoo’s colleague in Kashmir University, Mohammad Sultan Bhat, who heads the University’s Geography department, said that Pakistan will react sharply to projects like Bursar and Sawalkote notwithstanding the fact that India says they are going to be constructed as per the provisions of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between the two countries. Chenab and Ravi rivers are parts of the larger Indus basin.

Under the treaty, the waters of the three western rivers in the basin – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – are allocated to Pakistan, while the waters of the three eastern rivers – Ravi, Beas and Sutlej – are allocated to India. However, India, upstream of Pakistan, has the right to “non-consumptive” uses of the waters of the western rivers as well.

In the Chenab basin, some of the new projects are being planned to produce hydropower through the “run-of-the-river” technique, in which a river’s water is not held back in a reservoir, but diverted through a tunnel, after which it turns turbines to generate electricity before flowing back into the river.

India has maintained throughout that it is sticking to the terms of the IWT, but Pakistan has raised objections to earlier projects, arguing that the dams can potentially hold back water, and that in some cases the gates built into the dam wall to occasionally flush out sediments contravene technical provisions of the treaty.

These matters have led to protracted negotiations, and have then gone to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague when negotiations failed, with both countries scoring points at different times.

“We have seen in recent times that Pakistan has raised strong objections to power projects like Baglihar and Kishanganga. They are going to do the same, especially at a time when India has openly said that it is going to use water as a strategic tool to put pressure on Pakistan,” Bhat said.

The projects

Even within India, there is controversy over two of the projects. The first is the 1,856 MW Sawalkote project in Ramban and Udhampur districts of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the JKSPDC official, the Sawalkote hydroelectric project is run-of-the-river.

But green groups contend that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report about the project is “misleading”. In January 2016, a group of eminent people from across India had written of their concerns regarding the “deeply flawed” EIA report for the Sawalkote project.

One of the major concerns expressed by the environmentalists was regarding the run-of-the-river status of the Sawalkote project.

“The EIA executive summary claims that Sawalkote is a run of the river scheme, but this claim is totally wrong and misleading considering that it involves 192.5 metre high dam, 1,159 hectare (ha) reservoir with 530 million cubic metres of storage capacity and a massive power house close to the toe of the dam,” the citizens had written in a letter to Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board (JKSPCB).

“How can such a project be called run of the river project? This is clearly wrong and [a] misleading claim.”

The letter had also expressed concern over the changes in land requirements, submergence area and the number of families affected. In the EIA, it was anticipated that 900 ha would be submerged due to the project and the total land requirement for the project would be 1,099 ha.

But both the submergence area and the land required for the project has been increased by 29 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. It has now gone up to 1,158.75 ha and 1,401.35 ha respectively in the final report. Interestingly, none of the concerns of the group have been addressed in the final project report accessed by thethirdpole.net.

There are questions over the Bursar hydroelectric project as well. In this project, a storage dam with a reservoir is being planned on the Chenab basin in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Along with Ujh, this has been declared a national project. According to an NHPC document, this project has been designed to utilise the provisions of the IWT as mentioned in Annexure-E of the 1960 treaty.

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